Windreaper
by Gemma Inkyboots
Summary: Oooh, get me with the cool titles! Ahem.
1. Bromeliad

This grew out of a discussion I had with Prof. Wayzegoose (yes, him) on Stupid Things Megatron Has Done To Get Energy. It's fun explaining the transformers to him, since he's the only one I can have a natter about Tf technology with (even if he does go all technological-man on me, it's still fun. And I can confuse him with the differences between Coneheads and Seekers. ;) ) He listed off different natural energy sources to me, and I sat there going "Yep. Yep. Done that. Kindof did that..." etc., until he came up with this crazy idea which, strangely enough, I agreed could work (once he'd explained it to me...) So, kudos and thanks to my collaborator and culprit-in-cheif, the Prof. This bunny probably won't be updated as regularly as Meetings, cos the other one's on the homeward stretch now believe it or not, but here's the little intro.

And yes, I may stretch the evidence from the 'toon, but i can't stand Spike anyway. ;)

* * *

Windreaper

Chapter 1: Bromeliad 

Cosmos spun cheerily out of Earth's orbit. Bored, bored, boring... all he'd been doing for the past few weeks was the odd half-hearted sweep through the lower atmosphere. There had been no Decepticon activity up here for months, all the 'Cons having been raiding various human facilities now and again, and he was sick of being stuck planetside. The chirpy shuttle may not be as temperamental as the other fliers, but he was built for deep space and wide, open skies. After a while the blue stretch of Earthen sky just didn't feel big enough anymore, so he'd asked for some leave and dove up into the night sky as soon as it'd been granted.

_Now this is more like it,_ he thought to himself. _The Earth may be pretty, but nothing beats the view from out here._

Humming happily to himself, an Earthman habit he'd picked up and unintentionally but intensely annoyed Prime with over the past few weeks, he skimmed cheerily out of Earth's gravity and turned his sensors to admire the scenery.

"Wow, Cosmos," came a voice. "That's some view, huh?"

"That's just what I was thinking, Spike" the ship replied. "You've sure got a pretty planet."

"Yeah," the human murmured, crossing his arms and looking out of a nearby porthole. "It's a shame Bumblebee didn't wanna come." The boy absently wondered why, when he'd enthusiastically mentioned the spaceflight with Cosmos, Bumblebee had looked first hurt, then uncomfortable, then finally muttered something about having something else he 'had to do.' Only for a moment, then Spike forgot about it - rather like the mountain-top drive he had promised to go on with Bumblebee and promptly forgotten about the moment he'd heard Cosmos was going into space that day.

Blithely ignorant of his friend's hurt feelings and fears of being dropped for a more 'cool' model, Spike stared out into the serene beauty of eternal night and gazed at the graceful unfurling of golden dawn across the flower of the solar system's lonely garden.

" 'S nice, huh Cosmos?"

"Yeah..."

The pair gazed in silence for a moment, admiring the worldwide sunrise, until a sharp blip jumped onto Cosmos' sensors and disrupted the wide-eyed wondering.

"Hey, what's that?" Spike asked, running the short distance over to Cosmos' sensor panel to stare at the flashing warning light.

"I'm picking up an unusually high concentration of infra-red over there..."

Cosmos concentrated. "Wow. Make that a really high concentration - it's almost like a laser beam it's so strong..."

"Ah, it's probably a satellite or something. You weren't picking up anything before, were you?"

"Well, no, that's the unusual part. Satellites don't use infra-red..." As Cosmos twirled off towards the anomaly, helpfully giving Spike an expert's detailed, intricate explanation of just why using infra-red for a satellite project was a bad idea and how they actually worked, the human slouched in a chair and moodily wished Bumblebee was here so he didn't feel quite so stupid on his own. Bumblebee always made him look better.

(Unknown to Spike, like many things, this was because the Autobots were collectively either too kind -like Optimus - or too patronising to tell the boy when he was stating the obvious or just generally being a nuisance and getting in the way. Bumblebee, who genuinely liked the little twerp, hung around and took the brunt of any mishaps Spike made to keep him out of trouble and/or danger when he ran into Decepticon traps through overconfidence or sheer naivety. To the constant surprise of many Autobots, this setup seemed to work and resulted in Spike somehow actually helping the Autobot cause by some bizarre twist of fate. Sadly, this often meant Bumblebee sacrificing either his safety or his dignity, and had resulted in Spike getting a rather swollen head and becoming irritable when the yellow 'beetle regained some of his battered credibility. It also resulted in the more snide members of the Autobots calling the human 'Bumblebee's science project.')

Blissfully unaware of this, Spike paid no attention to the happy little spacecraft as they weaved across the heavens towards the beam. When they got closer, Cosmos finished the calculations he'd been working through as he chatted at Spike, and sailed towards where he'd determined the source was coming from.

Cosmos had expected the beam to be coming from deep space, so he headed towards the streak of infra-red on a calculated incline that took him far out of the immediate vicinity of Earth. To his surprise, the beam stopped only a short distance from the outer reaches of the planet's upper atmosphere - he overshot it completely and turned round to try and work out what exactly was going on.

There, revealed before him, lay a space station - with a sickeningly familiar symbol stamped proudly on the side.

"Decepticons!" Spike yelped, coming out of his strop so fast it was almost comical. "Cosmos, we gotta do something!"

"Right!" The spaceship cruised carefully towards the station. He saw a strange box that looked like some sort of receiver attached to the back, and just had enough time to briefly wonder what, exactly, it could be receiving, before a barrage of laser blasts came flying at him from the station's defences.

With a yowl of protest Cosmos hurtled into a steep dive before throwing himself forward and right, ducking the explosions but accidentally zooming under the station's belly and coming out right in front of it. If Cosmos had had the leisure or presence of mind, he would have noticed the projector at the nose of the station and realised that it was receiving an image of space from the box behind them and projecting it forward, masking the entire contraption. Right now, though, he was a little too frazzled to be impressed. Weaving like an amateur boxer he dodged flares of violet from the mounted guns, and realised with dismay that most of the station's weaponry pointed Earthward. Including some nasty-looking cannons.

"Hang on Spike!" he yelled over the noise of the guns already blazing. "It's going to be a bumpy ride!"

* * *

I don't own anyone or anything apart from the 'station and the story. Go me. As ever, read and review! All comments appreciated, but I don't know when the next bit'll be up. Toodles!


	2. Spin docters

'Lo! Me again.

Now, I actually had Skywarp sing in this before I put up 'Long day' and wasn't sure if it should stay, but it did - and I actually think it works ok now. Back to the point, thankyou to everyone who reviewed that and 'Meetings!' I laughed, I beamed, I collapsed into giggles when I read indigo-ink's and rolled my eyes at the Prof. As usual. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you like - it's a bit longer than the first...heh.

Soryu: Nope, can't stand him. He's ok in season 3/4, but than Daaa-niel's there to fill the role of annoying human. Blagh! Umm...maybe they're subconsciously hoping he'll get killed off?! Mmmh, well - the 'bots are going to get it wrong in this one - and I'll rub their noses in it as far as I can. Hah.Sadly, I need Spike's own brand of bizarre invulnerability here, so I can't promise to kill him off. Bah. By the way, 'Meetings' isn't over yet, not by a long(ish) shot! I've got at least one more chapter in me, so watch this space...I swear that story's as long-lived as Prime. Whouf.

Alirion: Thanks...you can thank the Prof for the science-whizzy stuff - I sat, listened and nodded, then asked lots of questions. He does the science, I do the character know-how and the actual writing... Personally I think I get the good end of the deal.

Naphtali Phoenix: Really? (Eyebrows disappear further under the fringe in surprise.) Very odd. Sorry 'bout that - I do tend to babble, especially when I'm ranting (spikespikespike_kiiill_spike...) Ahem. See how this works for you...

Rose: Ditto! Amazing how it's the young men who're the most annoying - and the nod to equality in making Carly a more-capably-than-Spike brainbox was appreciated in season 1/2, Hasbro... Anyway, next chapter's here! Enjoy!

Pinkfuzzyone: Sometimes I wish the Decepticons'd do it, but then I think that the Autobots're usually closer Maybe I'll do a bit more Spike-baiting later..that'd be _fuuuuuun._ Bwahahaha. I don't think anyone but Hasbro'd complain, and then only quietly.

Okey-dokey, next chapter - and it's got the Deceps! More importantly, here's where Starscream comes in. Yay!

* * *

Chapter 2: Spin doctors

_"I've seen the lights go out on Broooadwaaaaay._

_I saw the ruins at my feee-heee-eeet..."_

"Skywarp, will you shut up!"

The black seeker grinned cheerily at his irate wingmate and carried on singing. Loudly.

_"They said that Queens could staaaaaay..."_

Starscream ground his teeth and tried admirably to concentrate on something other than little black pieces of shrapnel hitting the floor.

_"They bleeew the Bronx awaaaa-aaa-aaaaaay..."_

His fists clenched spasmodically, wings trembling in a valiant attempt to stay at his post and not strangle the karaoke wannabe. The jets smirked amongst themselves and Thundercracker started a silent countdown in his head - transmitting it to Skywarp too, of course. Skywarp's grin grew wider.

_"And sank Maaanhatten ouuuuut at seeeeeeeeea..."_

"_Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!" _

That did it - Starscream whipped round and lunged at Skywarp, one hand going for his throat as the other jammed his null ray into the black jet's midsection. Skywarp yelped in surprise and yanked one of Starscream's intakes - the seeker stumbled with a yowl and pulled the black jet into Thundercracker, who squawked and bumped into Scavenger minding his own business at a terminal on the other side of the room. Mixmaster poked his head into the room and made to ask what the slag was going on, but decided against it when he saw the brawl. He ducked in and pulled Scavenger out of it, shutting the door behind them on the yelling fliers.

In all fairness, they had been stuck up on the station for a long time and jets, like any other fliers, got very bad cabin fever. True, Skywarp could just have stuck his head out of the airlock and had a quick jaunt out around the ship, as long as he stayed behind the projection that hid them from any scanners the Autobots threw their way, but he thought that annoying his equally twitchy wingmate would be just as much fun.

Unluckily for him, the entertaining brawl drowned out the sound of the longer-range proximity scanners - something was heading their way, and they hadn't the faintest idea.

A few seconds later the close-range alert picked it up, and there was no way to ignore _that_ one however loud the fight. Heads whipped round to stare horror-struck at the overhead monitor and the two Constructicons came barrelling back into the room, Scavenger looking a little panicked despite the rather limiting lack of a face. The blaring sirens tore through the station, dragging Thundercracker to his feet from the top of the pile and over to the nearest console - he shut off the alarm and the rest gave a sigh of relief. The second of silence, however, was shattered by Starscream pulling his legs out from under Skywarp and snapping "This is all your fault!" as he ran limping to the laser controls and checked they were still in place and firing. He turned to glare at Skywarp, who shrugged with an infuriating grin that just about managed to cover the nasty nagging fear of what Megatron would say if the Autobots screwed up yet another of their schemes because of him.

Starscream snorted, and screeched for everyone to get to their stations and shoot the intruder down - he either didn't notice or didn't care that the Constructicons were already there and Thundercracker was on his way. He glared at Skywarp again and stalked over to prep the big frontal cannons.

His foul mood vanished like mist in the sun at the thought of trying out his new toys. The Constructicons were busily firing away at the intruder with the rear guns - the cameras showed it was Cosmos, space's annoying little rubber-duckie - Mixmaster was cackling like a lunatic as he blasted away, and Scavenger gave the impression of biting his lip in concentration even if he didn't have one. The jets were standing ready by the side and frontal laserguns, and - yes - Skywarp's wing had a huge dent. He snickered evilly.

The Autobot ducked down under the belly of the station - Mixmaster cursed and Scavenger looked disappointed, but the seekers grinned amongst themselves as Cosmos shot out in front of them, the earlier fight forgotten in the thrill of having something to shoot at. Skywarp whooped and hollered as he attacked with all guns blazing, a little disappointed at not being out there himself but certainly not complaining as he and Thundercracker worked the lasers. Starscream shrieked with pure glee as his cannons worked perfectly - bolts of tightly compressed energy flew around the spy as he ducked and dived and tried desperately to get the hell out of there in one piece, the wild purple rain driving him relentlessly Earthwards.

Cosmos darted around space, managing to stay one step ahead of the lasers and bolts whizzing so close he could almost smell the singed paint as they shot past and exploded in front of him. He had jerked and spun his way back into the upper atmosphere, and was starting to think that maybe he'd get out of this with himself and the screaming human intact, when a laser just clipped him and sent him spinning wildly - straight into the path of an energy bolt.

Starscream yelled in triumph and punched the air as the little spy plummeted down through the sky, a thick torrent of smoke belching out behind him and the faintest hint of flames licking at his roof. The Decepticons laughed and grinned giddily at each other - the short, one-sided shootout had restored their spirits and dispelled the cabin fever, even if it was only for a while. Starscream checked the laser co-ordinates again, and was just about to order the Constructicons out to check the equipment when the overhead monitor flashed. Thundercracker went over and glanced at the printout - "Hey, Screamer, headquarters callin' in!" he called cheerily. Starscream smirked and swaggered over in front of the monitor as the blue jet poked at the console with a black finger and made the connection.

"_Mega_tron!" he chirped, sounding as irritatingly surprised and smug as he possibly could. "How _nice_ to see you!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Starscream, this is business not pleasure" Megatron growled, his optics narrowing at the seeker's suspiciously perky attitude. "We picked up the close-range alarm and an Autobot signature coming through the atmosphere. Explain yourself."

"The Autobot spy, Cosmos, was snooping round the station" Starscream said, radiating ineffable smugness and grinning like a Cheshire cat as the others nudged each other and beamed in the background out of sight. "We picked him up and shot him down - he never knew what hit him!"

"You _idiot_, Starscream!" Megatron thundered, crashing his fists down on the console top and jarring the transmission, not to mention the seeker's composure. "You gave away your position _and_ destroyed one of the Autobots - they'll know he's missing and look for him, if they haven't picked him up already!" He sneered at the shell-shocked expression on Starscream's face. "Congratulations, Starscream - you've just compromised the mission. I'm sending Astrotrain up to replace you."

"_No!"_ the seeker protested, suddenly finding his voice as Megatron moved to cut the connection. "The Autobots will never guess we're up here, and the projector will hide us from anything they send up! No-one else can oversee the operation as well as I can - I designed it, I researched it - you _can't_ pull me off! Please!"

Megatron laughed inwardly as Starscream jumped from insufferably smug to panicked grovelling so quickly it was comical. "Very well, Starscream. But one more mistake like that, and I'll replace you with Blitzwing."

"_**Blitzwing?!"**_

Megatron cut the connection.

Starscream seethed. He turned around and glared at the others with a face like thunder, and his voice shook as he grated "Scavenger! Mixmaster! Get out there and go over the Spinnaker - I want a full report _now, _and I mean _full!"_ He rounded on the jets, fury blazing in his optics as his tongue lashed spitefully. "And you two - if the laser shifts so much as a micron I'll shove you into it!" He turned and stomped towards the door, but stopped in his tracks as Thundercracker quietly grumped "Yeah? An' where're you goin'?"

"OUT!"

The door hissed shut behind him, and the control room seemed stifled in the silence that swept over the rest like a gale in his wake. Skywarp opened his mouth, but Thundercracker gave him a look and he shut it again.

Mixmaster sniffed. "Well, th-that went...well." Scavenger sighed and looked at him mournfully. "I wish we weren't stuck with Starscream."

"Yeah, well, we are so we'll have to live with it," Thundercracker interrupted, glaring at them.

Skywarp's expression turned thoughtful and he sniggered wryly. "I don't think Megatron'd like it if the Starnut had an accident an' we cheated him out of an execution." Thundercracker rolled his optics and shoved him over to the laserboard, grumbling under his breath. The Constructicons looked at them and then at each other, and Scavenger shrugged eloquently as Mixmaster giggled. They went off to the airlock, and the control room was calm again. For a while.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bobbing somewhere in the ocean, a battered and scorched Cosmos wallowed in the water like a hard-done-by bath toy. The spy was offline, and would have stayed that way permanently if a panicky human hadn't been scrabbling around inside him and gingerly trying to activate the radio.

"Autobot base, this is Spike - come in...anybody!"

* * *

All characters are © Hasbro, the story's © me and Spinnaker - whatever that is ;) - is © myself and the ever-helpful Prof. Wayzegoose. The song's Miami 2017 (Lights go out on Broadway) by Billy Joel, and always makes me think of the UK comic series with Galvatron smashing up New York. Hmm. As ever, please read and review!


	3. Silver in the clouds

Mutter, grumble, snarl. After all the hassle I went through to get this chapter up, I hope it's worth it. Blah. Stupid, stupid old clanky laptop...gah.

Soryu: Weeeell... I was trying to get up as much as I could before I was dragged away from my keyboard kicking and screaming ;) Yep, Skywarp pushes his luck, but it IS fun. Not so much for Starscream, but still... And Spike might not get killed off here (mutter, grumble) but I will be snide at him later on. Yay!

Alirion: Ditto. Huge Billy fan here. It was fun to take the wind out of Starscream's sails and, sadly, it was true - but he'll get his good mood back later. He's like a rubber ball - can't keep him down. I quite like Cosmos actually, as he's rather cute and perky, but I can and will be horrible to Spike at any given opportunity. Unless it twists the fic, but it's still dooable and very, very satisfying. Mwahahaha.

Anyway, here we go. And I promise Skywarp isn't singing in this one.

* * *

Chapter three: Silver in the clouds.

Starscream sat alone atop the space station and settled in for a thorough, industrial-strength sulk. _What was I supposed to do, _he grumbled, _sit meekly in the command room like a good little drone and let that irritating Autobot goody-goody snoop around as much as his spark desires? And Blitzwing! Replacing ME! Megatron's lost what he had left of his cranial capacity if he thinks that jumped-up sports announcer can handle equipment this delicate, even if he knew what it was._

A mirthless snicker from the motionless seeker.

_Probably think it was some new type of gun, the moron. I'm surrounded by ingrates._

Starscream sat and stared unseeingly out to the vast canopy surrounding him, the stars shining a lonely call through the dark, as snatches of laughter and flashes of brilliant white flickered before his optics.

_I miss that. The way you could throw ideas around and everyone would know what you were aiming for, finding new places, the feeling that you could pack up your kit and be in an entirely different place tomorrow. I miss the conversations we had._

The seeker sighed unconsciously; getting to his feet, stepping off the side of the station and shifting to jet form, he dropped in a lazy arc around the ship's hull. _Now I can't even fly as far as I'd like._

He swung gracefully under the station's belly and picked up the cameras locking onto his signal. Despite his gloomy mood he smirked; this station was _his, _no matter who built it, and he knew it inside out - despite it only being built to support another of Megatron's master plans, it was his and no-one else's. Not even the Constructicons knew what some of the equipment did, despite them putting it together, and the thought cheered him every time.

The design and tech-specs had some from a vague idea he'd come up with in his spare time, such as it was, and it had taken much toying and daydreaming before the final bolt of inspiration had struck - the spark that had lead to the creation of the Spinnaker.

The prototype Spinnaker, at least - he had only had the materials and the time to come up with a small-scale version. He'd had a very tidy supply of energon quietly accumulating in his quarters from that, right up until Megatron had burst in on him and discovered it whirring away - after that the Decepticon leader had fallen in lust with the idea.

Starscream would have pulled a face at the memory of Megatron monopolising his creation and metaphorically drooling over it had his face not been tucked into his chest in jet mode.

And then, of course, the project had to be used for "the good of Cybertron" and the usual crushing of the Autobots spiel followed, while Starscream had stood off to the side out of the limelight as Megatron gloated, bristling as his work was pawed about by the Constructicons. If the seeker had been in a less cantankerous mood, he would have been smug about that it was his idea, his designs, his specifications being used and have crowed about it for weeks.

As it was, he had - to some extent - but he'd ignored the backhanded compliments from Megatron, and the huge piles of energon stacking up at the staging grounds they had set up, in favour of chewing over the fact that Megatron had turned the neat, efficient little model into a dramatic, looming construct that floated silently over the planet below. Starscream wasn't bothered too much about his sideline being discovered - it had been an interesting pastime with a useful output, and he still had a respectable pile of energon hidden away that Megatron hadn't seen - but he did resent his leader turning an operation that could have been used on a small scale all over the planet, with some minor alterations, into a grandiose plan to thumb his nose at the Autobots without them knowing. Whenever Megatron thought big, Starscream suddenly saw the value of small-scale schemes, and his mood changed accordingly.

The memory soured the blink of good humour he had momentarily regained, and the seeker was scowling internally as he rounded the side of the station. But then - then he saw his creation in all its shining, webworked glory, sparkling in the sunlight with a glowing radiance the Autobots would never see and no-one but its creator would fully understand, and - though he would never admit it - he admired Megatron's taste in irony.

Dazzled by the glittering motes of sunlight trickling along the mesh, Starscream was grinning with an intense, almost paternal pride as he paused by the airlock for one final look back.

The scarlet optics glowed with a wicked glee. _So, Megatron thinks they'll come? Let them. We'll see what the Autobots make of this..._

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The few Autobots in the control room looked as the radio crackled into life. When Spike's voice came through, panicked and shrill, for a brief moment most of those present lowered their optics to Primus and wondered idly just what sort of trouble the little human had got himself and his babysitter into this time.

When no-one got up right away to answer the call, Tracks harrumphed and pulled himself to his feet. Slingshot glanced over, an amused look spreading across his face.

"You're not botherin' with the little squealer, are you? He's probably finally driven Bumblebee crazy and been dumped at the side o' the road!"

Tracks looked down his nose at the Aerialbot, the disdainful stare not even denting the younger bot's grinning impudence. It didn't help that some of the others were sniggering behind their hands, either.

"If you actually bothered to take any notice of what was going on around you, you would have noticed that Bumblebee is right over there..." he pointed elegantly at the yellow minibot, who was thankfully too far away to hear the conversation. He did like the human, after all. "...And Spike was with Cosmos."

Audios tuned in almost audibly all over the room; Tracks noticed and immediately played to the audience. "That's right. You're interested now there's a chance of it being serious, hmmm? You weren't before."

To his satisfaction the others looked a smidge abashed, and he strode gracefully over to the console with a hint of smug satisfaction at a job well done. After meeting Raoul and his friends some time ago, the corvette had started taking an interest in the Autobots' resident young human, and was on speaking terms with him even if they weren't best pals. Now he made the connection at the main console and answered Spike's call with a debonair "Greetings, Spike - what can I do for you?"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bobbing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, Spike had never been so glad to hear Tracks' lazy drawl in his life.

"Tracks! Am I glad to hear you!"

"What's wrong?"

"The Decepticons have got a space station up in orbit - Cosmos went closer to take a look and they shot him down! We're floating in the sea somewhere..."

The audios of the Autobots around the room were practically standing on end. As if by magic, a genie summoned at the first hint of disaster, Optimus Prime strode into the room and headed over to Tracks - the corvette tried not to sigh out loud and moved aside as the Autobot leader monopolised the console.

"Spike, do you know where you are, what ocean you're in?"

The human looked uselessly round as if he expected to see a sign bobbing somewhere.

"Sorry Prime, I don't know - I couldn't see anything when we went down."

Optimus' blue optics dimmed in noble concern. "What about Cosmos?"

"He's out cold - half his systems are down."

Optics rolled to the floor again. What was it with humans and using the basic names they'd heard on TV for stuff they couldn't identify?

"Keep calm, Spike. We'll lock onto your signal and send a team out to bring you both in." Optimus cut the signal without listening to the relieved reply - turning to face the few Autobots in the room, as well as the ones trickling in with expressions of mild curiosity, he straightened and said, in his best speech-giving tone "Autobots! Gear up for a salvage rescue - let's bring them home." He transformed and roared towards the exit, the Autobots looking at each other with varying degrees of resignation at the human and excitement at a new mission.

Tracks groaned half-heartedly as he shifted. Those ridiculous water-ski contraptions clashed with his paintjob - not to mention that salt water always played havoc with his finish.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Spike flopped down onto the floor of Cosmos' cockpit, eyes stinging from the dazzle of sunlight on water. He'd stood staring out across the sea for a while, looking for any sign of the Autobots, before the harsh reflected glare started to make his head spin and he ducked back into the shade the unconscious Cosmos lent him. The smell of smoke and burnt-out wires mingled with the taint of heated metal, sticking to the back of his throat and turning his stomach.

He really hoped the Autobots would get here soon.

Cosmos lay silent and offline in the water, cracks and rents in his exostructure trailing down from the blast in his upper hull to trickle delicately below the waterline, fine drops of water bleeding through the hairline tears and forming a slick sheen of water with the threat of becoming a puddle.

Spike stared dully at the oozing water, knowing with a gloomy certainty that there was nothing he could do to stop it - and that if the Autobots didn't come soon the spy would sink, and he would tread water for a while before getting into real trouble. But that wouldn't happen, that wasn't going to be a worry, because the Autobots would be coming soon.

It's worth pointing out here that Spike wasn't very good at facing up to things. While in some cases this is good, and cynics would say that this is why people don't panic in times of crisis and keep going no matter what, in Spike this was coupled with a dependence on the Autobots getting him out of trouble and a subconscious belief in his own invulnerability. Whilst anyone over the age of thirty-five maintains that this is a characteristic of youth - no matter the evidence to the contrary and usually when they don't really know anyone even vaguely young - Spike persisted in getting himself into the most stupid situations that could have been easily avoided had he not, subconsciously, been thinking he could survive whatever happened and have the Autobots charge in at the last minute to pull his irons out of the fire right when things looked the most desperate. It never occurred to him that there would come a time when he'd have to survive on his own merits without any backup security blanket within reach - and when it came, as one day it would, there would be no doubt that the moment would make or break him. Or result in a nasty puddle of Spike-bits on the floor somewhere.

For now, though, Spike had no doubt that he'd get out of this one. Prime had said they were coming, hadn't he? So he sat, trying not to watch the water trickling slowly but insistently into the hull of the unconscious Cosmos, listening out for the approaching convoy. Waiting to be rescued.

* * *

Spike-bashing is fun. It should be a sport. Okay, next chapter I'll fill you in a bit about the Spinnaker, what it is and what the thing with the laser is all about, and demonstrate once again why a bored Skywarp is a Very Bad Thing. If it works out that way. 

Starscream, Tracks, Spike and the rest are all © Hasbro or someone. Not me. The story, however, as well as the Spinnaker (and much thanks to the Prof for inventing and naming the thing) are © me.


End file.
